𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗
@stanpatton.bsky.social
Husband & 'Dada.' Sellout game design director & social product analyst. Philosophy frienemy. stanpatton.substack.com
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
April 24, 2025 at 7:28 PM
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
Two years ago a 50-year-old mystery in Conway's Game of Life was solved. A pattern was discovered that cannot be generated by anything except for itself -- there's no way to procedurally build it within the ruleset.
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Two years ago a 50-year-old mystery in Conway's Game of Life was solved. A pattern was discovered that cannot be generated by anything except for itself -- there's no way to procedurally build it within the ruleset.
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
We aren't used to talking in the most philosophically safe & coherent framings. This is an issue because "philosophical intuition" probably = "how we're used to framing things."
January 16, 2025 at 5:11 PM
We aren't used to talking in the most philosophically safe & coherent framings. This is an issue because "philosophical intuition" probably = "how we're used to framing things."
It is not important for responsibility that you can *actually* do otherwise, only that you could do otherwise *under a counterfactual*. Whether a "yes" is inculpating depends on the job or jobgiver(s).
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
January 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
It is not important for responsibility that you can *actually* do otherwise, only that you could do otherwise *under a counterfactual*. Whether a "yes" is inculpating depends on the job or jobgiver(s).
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
"This is not a picture of screw X" is how building this bunk bed is going.
January 2, 2025 at 5:41 AM
"This is not a picture of screw X" is how building this bunk bed is going.
You can ride a bike without a helmet. It takes extra time to find and don the helmet, and it feels awkward. Riding without that bulk is quicker and more comfy, even if it invites big risks.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
December 9, 2024 at 5:53 PM
You can ride a bike without a helmet. It takes extra time to find and don the helmet, and it feels awkward. Riding without that bulk is quicker and more comfy, even if it invites big risks.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
"Does this person worship the same God as that person?" has a boringly definitive answer, but definitive answers kill conversations, and dead conversations tell no tales.
December 2, 2024 at 3:49 PM
"Does this person worship the same God as that person?" has a boringly definitive answer, but definitive answers kill conversations, and dead conversations tell no tales.
"Evidence" does not have a tight meaning, so people will hop from neutral to arbitrarily laden meanings of it.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
November 29, 2024 at 9:19 PM
"Evidence" does not have a tight meaning, so people will hop from neutral to arbitrarily laden meanings of it.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
A new way to approach Newcomb's Paradox that makes it more intuitive that the only rational choices are "reject the scenario" or "1-box."
#philsky #philosophy
#philsky #philosophy
November 28, 2024 at 2:48 PM
A new way to approach Newcomb's Paradox that makes it more intuitive that the only rational choices are "reject the scenario" or "1-box."
#philsky #philosophy
#philsky #philosophy
In epistemology, raise one eyebrow super high whenever you see a syllogism that treats the word "reliable" as if it is a "yes or no" thing, with a single probabilistic threshold to "count."
November 26, 2024 at 7:31 PM
In epistemology, raise one eyebrow super high whenever you see a syllogism that treats the word "reliable" as if it is a "yes or no" thing, with a single probabilistic threshold to "count."
I wanted the commemorative boot glass but also the stout they limit to 8 oz pours...
November 24, 2024 at 11:02 PM
I wanted the commemorative boot glass but also the stout they limit to 8 oz pours...
Q: "If beauty is not an objective feature of things, and is instead in the 'eye of the beholder,' is a thing not beautiful prior to me discovering it?"
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
November 23, 2024 at 5:43 AM
Q: "If beauty is not an objective feature of things, and is instead in the 'eye of the beholder,' is a thing not beautiful prior to me discovering it?"
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
Virtue ethics is evocative, and feels purely objective at first glance. But here morality's stance-dependence just manifests as semantic quibbles about what acts qualify under the virtue & vice labels.
November 23, 2024 at 2:48 AM
Virtue ethics is evocative, and feels purely objective at first glance. But here morality's stance-dependence just manifests as semantic quibbles about what acts qualify under the virtue & vice labels.
Touching leaves these days.
November 20, 2024 at 3:49 AM
Touching leaves these days.
Metaphysical impossibility just means something is ruled out per some lexicon. The so-called Hard Problem does not mean the mind is a "different substance," nor does it mean consciousness is "fundamental," nor does it rule out physical causal closure.
November 19, 2024 at 4:58 PM
Metaphysical impossibility just means something is ruled out per some lexicon. The so-called Hard Problem does not mean the mind is a "different substance," nor does it mean consciousness is "fundamental," nor does it rule out physical causal closure.
I am still seeing people use passive "is fitting," "is permitted/permissible," is obligated/obligatory," "supposed to," "is allowed/allowable," " is compulsory," "is required," etc. in serious defenses of moral stance-independence so I gotta, once again, tap the sign.
November 17, 2024 at 4:48 PM
I am still seeing people use passive "is fitting," "is permitted/permissible," is obligated/obligatory," "supposed to," "is allowed/allowable," " is compulsory," "is required," etc. in serious defenses of moral stance-independence so I gotta, once again, tap the sign.
Philosophy's biggest problem, polysemy, can be explored with fun little riddles like this one, from my latest on the StanStack:
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
November 16, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Philosophy's biggest problem, polysemy, can be explored with fun little riddles like this one, from my latest on the StanStack:
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Evaluative reification -- the green drivers evaporating from mention -- is not really a mystery. It's explainable and folks do it all the time, even for stuff that's obviously not purely objective.
November 14, 2024 at 4:27 AM
Evaluative reification -- the green drivers evaporating from mention -- is not really a mystery. It's explainable and folks do it all the time, even for stuff that's obviously not purely objective.
Even if determinism is true, we have self-determination.
But "self-determination" needs to be defined according to what actually happens inside when we ponder & commit.
But "self-determination" needs to be defined according to what actually happens inside when we ponder & commit.
November 13, 2024 at 3:06 PM
Even if determinism is true, we have self-determination.
But "self-determination" needs to be defined according to what actually happens inside when we ponder & commit.
But "self-determination" needs to be defined according to what actually happens inside when we ponder & commit.
I'm a mobile game design director.
My favorite subject in school (back in the 90s) was computer lab.
I love doing and getting better at piano, guitar, music composition, art, game design theory, and coding fun projects.
Samples from a 2010 tabletop game prototype:
My favorite subject in school (back in the 90s) was computer lab.
I love doing and getting better at piano, guitar, music composition, art, game design theory, and coding fun projects.
Samples from a 2010 tabletop game prototype:
November 11, 2024 at 9:26 PM
I'm a mobile game design director.
My favorite subject in school (back in the 90s) was computer lab.
I love doing and getting better at piano, guitar, music composition, art, game design theory, and coding fun projects.
Samples from a 2010 tabletop game prototype:
My favorite subject in school (back in the 90s) was computer lab.
I love doing and getting better at piano, guitar, music composition, art, game design theory, and coding fun projects.
Samples from a 2010 tabletop game prototype:
Reframing metaphysical issues in terms of H-Recipes puts a host of evergreen debates to bed, and is prophylaxis against reification (which corrupts every philosophical branch it touches).
December 5, 2023 at 5:40 PM
Reframing metaphysical issues in terms of H-Recipes puts a host of evergreen debates to bed, and is prophylaxis against reification (which corrupts every philosophical branch it touches).
Stare at this chart until you become immune to philosophers using "is justified" in an absolute sense. Epistemology is about striving for truth. Whether a given method is the best way to the truth in some context is contextual, and sometimes we don't know what context we're in.
December 4, 2023 at 10:48 PM
Stare at this chart until you become immune to philosophers using "is justified" in an absolute sense. Epistemology is about striving for truth. Whether a given method is the best way to the truth in some context is contextual, and sometimes we don't know what context we're in.